John Terry has revealed how Gianfranco Zola set an invaluable example to follow for the defender at Chelsea.
The club captain has left Stamford Bridge after a professional career lasting almost two decades, having won the last of five Premier League titles, the same number of FA Cups and the Champions League once.
Zola spent seven years at Chelsea, with Terry a growing presence in the side for more than half that spell, and the defender says the Italian's more professional approach helped him integrate and then succeed at the club.
"We had the likes of Gianfranco Zola at the club with the way he was looking after himself, whether that be food or not drinking or going out after games," Terry told Chelsea's official website.
"I had grown up with the mentality that you train all week, play the game and then go out drinking and then go again next week, but when the likes of Franco came it was all about eating the right food after training and that helped me as a player back then.
"I was quite close to Franco, I played golf with him quite a bit and spent some time at his house so I saw the way he lived, what he ate, what he drank and he got me into coffees rather than shandies after a game of golf."
